Impartiality fears of top civil servant

A TOP civil servant has privately voiced concerns that Sue Gray broke impartiality rules by holding secret meetings with Sir Keir Starmer, it was claimed yesterday.

Susan Acland-Hood, permanent secretary at the Department for Education, allegedly raised the issue in a Zoom call with colleagues. The Telegraph reported that she said Ms Gray becoming Sir Keir’s chief of staff ‘is a real challenge to retaining the confidence of ministers’.

Ms Acland-Hood reportedly highlighted the civil service’s code of impartiality, warning other officials that it ‘requires us not to allow our political beliefs to influence the way we do our jobs’.

Ms Gray is facing questions about whether she met the code’s requirements.